As I watch our politicians and journalists discuss all the chaos, turmoil and madness in the world today, I rarely hear or read anything relating to the underlying existential causes, the root causes. All the discussion has to do with more surface causes, such as economic or political differences. No one dares suggest that the insanity we see in the world these days is the result of an increasing number of humans finding no meaning in life. Nor does anyone suggest that ultra-materialism or hedonism, as promoted by the entertainment and advertising industries, is a factor.

I like the way Air Chief Marshal Lord Dowding (Sir Hugh Dowding, 1882 – 1970), put it in his 1960 book, God’s Magic (recently republished, along with three other Dowding books, Lychgate, Many Mansions, and The Dark Star by White Crow Books). “The problem of world chaos is linked very closely with the chaos in the mind of humanity,” offered Dowding, (below) considered the man most responsible for Great Britain’s victory in the 1940 Battle of Britain during World War II. “Man insists on looking outward for causes instead of looking inward. As with the individual, so with a nation. An individual who has an unquiet spirit will have an unquiet environment.”

But politicians and journalists do not want to get into such philosophical issues. If they espouse the predominant materialistic view of science, they are simply endorsing nihilism and reaffirming that life has no purpose. The only way that life has real purpose is if there is a “larger life” beyond this one, but that means the politicians and journalists have to tread somewhat in controversial religious territory. Political correctness prevents the politicians from getting into such areas, while the journalists fear that they will appear unintelligent by discussing such unscientific matters. Yes, some of our more right-wing politicians now take pride in mentioning God, but their fundamentalist beliefs are in shallow, murky waters and therefore not very persuasive. They only add fuel to the fire.

And so we continue to spiral downward, finding ourselves significantly lower than in Lord Dowding’s days in spite of significant technological and materialistic gains since his time. One recent Associated Press story discussed the decline in happiness among Americans, attributing it to growing financial pressures, also referred to as “economic insecurity.” Another newspaper article stated that middle-aged white American males “are dying in droves,” much more than a few decades ago, as personal and financial stress gives rise to suicides and drug overdoses. A fairly recent magazine article also mentioned studies indicating that Americans are not as happy as they were 30-40 years ago, apparently because they have reached the point of diminishing returns in realizing materialistic comforts. It was suggested that the sowing brings greater happiness than the reaping and we have reaped so much that we have become bored and depressed. We are perhaps nearing the point that Nero reached when Rome burned.

One reporter, Ben Boychuk of Tribune News Service, did dare to go deeper than the others in searching for reasons for the middle-aged mortality problem. “When you have nothing to believe in but yourself, and you’re life is a misery, then it’s hardly surprising that many men – unemployed, childless, aimless – turn to booze, drugs, video games, porn, or whatever else dulls the pain,” he offered. “Our problem isn’t just a lack of meaningful work. It’s the lack of meaning, period.” He further stated: “Nihilism is in the very air we breathe.”

Lord Hugh Dowding Statue, St Clement Danes Church, Strand, London

As Dowding saw it, the belief in the survival of consciousness at death is at the core of all concerns and issues facing humankind and the remedy for the ills of the world are to be found in accepting the “overwhelming evidence” that conscious personal existence continues beyond the grave. The wise man, he said, “will demand to know as much as possible about his future state. If he believes that he will be snuffed out like a candle, he should believe it because he has carefully examined and deliberately rejected the alternatives, and not because it is the most comfortable thing for a selfish materialist to believe.”

Of course, there are many today who will blame much of the world turmoil on religion and belief in an afterlife, some religious zealots being in too much of a hurry to get there. But just because various religions have gone astray in their search for meaning doesn’t mean the whole idea of afterlife should be condemned. Dowding was critical of orthodox religion. “For several reasons the Church is not helpful to laymen in forming their opinions on the subject of individual survival,” he wrote, speaking primarily of Christian orthodoxy. “The Church anchored its ship sixteen hundred years ago, and the capstan has rusted up. It shirks the issue, and will not openly examine and pronounce upon the mass of evidence which exists on the subject of the future life.”

As Dowding saw it, the “hereafter” offered by religion is much too vague and “deliberately wooly,” so much so that it makes absolutely no sense to the ordinary person.
“The result is that when the time does approach the man is frightened. He fears death. And when he wakes up on the other side he often won’t believe he is dead because he feels so much the same as he did before he died.”

As a result of his investigation of mediumship, Dowding became a Spiritualist. He recognized that there were charlatans attempting to dupe the public, but he was equally certain that spirit communication took place through genuine mediums. He also recognized that there were many inconsistencies and contradictions coming through these genuine mediums, but he came to understand that this was the result of many factors, including subconscious coloring by the medium’s mind, attempts to explain celestial matters in terrestrial terms, and by misinformation coming from low-level spirits. However, there was enough consistency in certain areas, such as the many dimensions or levels on the other side, the awakening of the spirit body with the same consciousness with which it left the physical world, and an afterlife of activity and progression, that he believed that it was a subject every intelligent person should study. “My assertion is that a man who will study what has been made available to us by ancient and modern revelation can build up for himself a picture of the Scheme of the Universe and of the Progress of Humanity, which is perfectly acceptable to a rational intelligence – making allowance, of course, for the fact that there are certain aspects of multidimensional life which are quite outside the scope of our three-dimensional brains,” he explained his view.

As for the oft-heard advice that we should “live in the moment” and not concern ourselves with what might come or not come after death, Dowding countered that the person who has the conviction that he will live on after death in a meaningful way will enrich his life. “If and when he accepts the overwhelming evidence that conscious personal existence does continue beyond the grave, he will wish to treat his continuing life as a whole, and modify in thought, word and deed the natural and instinctive expression of his personality so as to accord with a long-term policy, instead of thinking only of the little period which he spends on earth,” he wrote. “This is my definition of Religion, and indeed Religion in its widest sense is desperately needed today.”

As I see it, the biggest failure of organized religion is its teaching of a dichotomous afterlife. Either you are judged righteous and go to a very humdrum heaven or you are judged wicked and go to a horrific hell. There is no in-between state, though Catholics recognize purgatory, which is just as bad as hell, except that it is not eternal. Nor is there any period of adaptation or progression in the religious afterlife. Modern revelation has attempted to correct this illogical and totally unjust thinking, but orthodoxy has ignored it and few have heard it.

As an analogy, relative to the adaptation period, let me suggest that you picture seven people on the starting line of a marathon. These seven people represent humanity. The first of our seven starters is an Olympic caliber runner, capable of covering the 26.2-mile distance at nearly 13 miles per hour and finishing in a little over two hours. The second person is a fitness runner, more commonly called a “jogger.” While physically fit, he or she will finish an hour or more behind the Olympic runner, covering about 7-8 mph per hour. So great is the distance between them that the Olympic runner will have had time to shower and have a full meal before the jogger crosses the finish line.

The third person might be called a “plodder,” a somewhat less-dedicated jogger. He or she is reasonably fit, but will take four to five hours to complete the marathon distance, moving along at 5-6 mph. Then there is the “walker,” pumping along at a brisk 3-4 mph for the marathon distance and finishing between 6.5 and 8 hours.

Our last three contestants are in the couch-potato (CP) category. They do no exercise at all and are totally unprepared for the marathon challenge. CP #1 is 20 pounds overweight, but he still has enough youthful vitality to endure some physical exertion. Although this person will have to stop and take some breaks along the way, walking most of it, he or she might be able to average close to 2-3 miles per hour and finish in 10-12 hours.

CP #2 is older, much more sluggish and overweight than CP #1, and will meander over the course while taking many more rest breaks along the way. Sore muscles or joints combined with fatigue may very well result in this person abandoning the effort, but if he/she manages to finish, it will likely take 15-20 hours or more, not much faster than one mile per hour.

And lastly we have CP #3, the grossly overweight and out-of-shape person who becomes exhausted after walking one city block. This individual will struggle to cover one mile a day, if that, and may take a month to log in 26.2 miles, assuming his body holds up. The Olympic runner will have finished when this person is only a mile or so into the 26.2 mile marathon distance.

Now, forget about athletic or physical fitness and attempt to put the range of running fitness to degrees of spiritual fitness. Mother Teresa, Mahatma Gandhi, and the more virtuous and humble people take the place of the Olympic runner, while Adolph Hitler, Jack the Ripper, and other serial killers are the spiritual equivalent of couch potato #3. In between we have various degrees of virtue and vice. The average person today is probably somewhere between the brisk walker and couch potato #1 – in the 2-4 mph category, not especially virtuous but not full of vice, either. Computer hackers, shoplifters, embezzlers, and scammers are the equivalent of couch potato #2, not quite down there with the serial killers.

Jump ahead to the finish line and picture the condition of each of the seven contestants, assuming that the couch potatoes were able to finish. The Olympic runner recovers quickly, within a matter of minutes, breathing normally even in a matter of seconds. Outside of a little muscle soreness, he or she will have little in the way of after effects. The jogger will take a little longer to feel normal and his/her body will be sore and stiff for up to a week. The plodder might fall on the ground in complete exhaustion, taking an hour or more to feel halfway normal, and will also feel extremely sore or stiff for a week or more. The walker, assuming he/she held nothing in reserve, will be worn and weary and may struggle to get out of bed in the days following.

But the couch potatoes may take days, weeks or months to recover, assuming that they gave it their all. Moreover, their unconditioned bodies may leave them with residual physical problems that may linger indefinitely after the race.

Now, again, forget about the running experience and view this post-race condition as the adjustment required of the individual after death. Substitute spiritual consciousness for physical fitness. The Mother Teresas and Gandhis of the world make a quick transition after death, quickly awakening and adjusting to the conditions of the spirit world, while, at the other extreme, the Hitlers and Jack the Rippers are so lacking in spiritual consciousness that they don’t even realize they are dead. It is as if they are having a nightmare in which they are experiencing the pain and anguish which they inflicted on others during their lifetimes. The nightmare could last years, decades, or even centuries in earth time.

The more average person – the one who developed limited spiritual consciousness while placing a higher value on materialistic possessions, though not doing significant harm to anyone – may flounder for several days or weeks in earth time after giving up the ghost, and may then remain in a stupor and require a period of convalescence before pursuing an active life on the Other Side, but this person’s “earthbound” ties will gradually be severed..

It is all a matter of degree, one’s “moral specific gravity” having as many variations as one’s fitness for a marathon. If only religions would grasp this, they might stop losing members. As Jesus said, there are “many mansions,” on that side, although “mansions” is a poor English translation for abodes.

While attending a luncheon given by a Christian fellowship of lawyers not too many months ago, I found myself talking with the president of the organization and suddenly being indicted for my “demonic” interests. When the lawyer friend who had invited me to the lunch – which featured Don Piper, the author of the best-selling book 90 Minutes in Heaven, the subject of a recent movie, as the guest speaker – mentioned to the president and another member that I had authored a number of books on spiritual matters, the young female president asked me what they were about. I hesitated before responding, as I doubted that my answer would be met favorably. But I gave a truthful answer, telling her that the books are primarily about mediumship. An expression of shock came upon the president’s face and she then asked me how I am able to sleep at night. She did an abrupt about-face and stormed away. The other member standing there reached out for my hand, clasped it between both of his and said he would pray for me, before he too departed, leaving me with my somewhat bewildered friend.

A little later, while I was engaged in a conversation with two other members, one of them asked me where I worship. Again, I hesitated, as a truthful answer would be “no particular place.” In fact, I had to bite my lower lip to avoid telling the person that I don’t believe God wants to be worshipped like some pagan idol. But the word “worship” can mean different things to different people, and so I responded by saying “I’m sort of an unorthodox Christian and do my own thing.” That answer puzzled the person and he, too, found it necessary to excuse himself. Clearly, I was a demon in this holier-than-thou group.

I should have had Roberta Grimes (below) with me to represent me and offer a defense on my behalf, although I doubt she would have been given the opportunity. Grimes is a lawyer whose recently released book, Liberating Jesus, would most likely be looked upon as a work of heresy by most members of the organization. “Christianity is wrong, but Jesus is right,” she offers early in her book. “I felt alone when I first made that discovery, but I realize now as I continue to travel and speak about my death-related books that God is moving in many hearts. Surveys in western countries find that more and more people are defining themselves as less religious but more spiritual.”

Grimes, whose previous books include The Fun of Dying and The Fun of Staying in Touch, examines the Bible, dissecting many of its passages, while showing how various verbiage can be interpreted in different ways and how orthodoxy, in its translations from the Aramaic, Hebrew, Greek and Latin, seems to have interpreted so much of it in a way that lends itself to fear-based governing, in effect, distorting much of the Bible. Her focus is on the gospels of the New Testament. “...Christians have diluted the message of Jesus by considering the Old Testament and the balance of the New Testament to be on a par with the divinely-inspired Gospels,” Grimes explains. “The lack of focus on God’s truth as it is revealed to us in the Gospels has stunted Christianity in peculiar ways.” Basically, she dismisses 1) a human-like God; 2) a devil figure; 3) eternal damnation in a fiery hell; 4) the atonement doctrine; and 5) that being a Christian matters when it comes to one’s initial station in the afterlife.

“The whole medieval notion of a King on a glorious throne who is apparently meant to be Jesus, and having all the nations bowing before Him and separating the sheep from the goats, and the whole concept of God loving some a lot and others not so much: all of that is so inconsistent with the rest of the Gospels, the afterlife evidence, and even the culture in which Jesus lived that it has to have been added later,” Grimes states. “Clinching this judgment is the fact that the whole ins-versus-outs storyline helps Church leaders to keep their flocks in line.”

Having done a thorough investigation of more modern revelation, such as credible mediumship, near-death experiences, out-of-body experiences, deathbed visions, and other paranormal phenomena, Grimes, who grew up as a devout Protestant and then Catholic, is able to reconcile the modern revelation with the teachings of the gospels, finding a Truth that offers a divine plan consistent with a loving creator, not the cruel, capricious, vindictive god of the Old Testament, nor a dichotomous afterlife – one area reserved for the righteous and another area for the wicked.

I have always wondered how a criminal defense lawyer or a judge who accepts the Old Testament’s form of justice or the Atonement Doctrine as proper justice can possibly advocate or administer justice. I once hypothesized fictional characters called Ned and Jed for another friend, who is a “born-again” Christian. After many years of murdering, raping, plundering, and pillaging with malice and forethought, these twin brothers were finally stopped by the police. Jed was shot and killed instantly, while Ned was apprehended and sent to prison for life. During his confinement, Ned “found” God and repented. The predominant Christian belief is that Ned will spend eternity in heaven, while Jed will burn forever in the fires of hell. Their fates were determined by chance or luck – Jed catching the bullet and Ned avoiding it. Where is the reason, the compassion, the equity, the fairness, the logic in such “divine” justice? My “born-again” friend could only answer that “God’s ways are not always apparent to us.”

Drawing from more modern and more sensible revelation, Grimes concludes that “the evidence is overwhelming that neither God nor Jesus nor any other religious figure ever is our post-death judge.” Instead, we judge ourselves and we gravitate to a vibrational level in the afterlife environment that best suits our spiritual development. There is no cheating and going to a level higher than that for which we are prepared.

Others have said much the same thing as Grimes says in this book, but clearly few have heard it and it bears repeating over and over again in the hope that it will eventually penetrate closed minds. Moreover, Grimes has “special” authority, which she explains in the Appendix, and offers the material in a more convincing manner than other authors have.

As Grimes sees it, the self-righteous certainty that so many Christians have about their own salvation and the damnation of others may be Christianity’s worst fruit. Had she been with me at that Christian fellowship lunch, I am sure she would have been shaking her head in disgust. However, Roberta is hopeful that fundamentalist Christians will eventually see the light. “God’s Kingdom on earth still is possible,” she says. “But it requires that we leave religious dogmas behind as the spiritual crutch that they are so we can work together to elevate humankind toward God’s level of awareness.”

We have been animals by Pierre-Emile Cornillier – Reine sleeps easily, grows cold from the very beginning of the passes, and then, to my surprise, returns to an almost normal temperature. Later on I learn that Vettellini, finding her in bad health, has arrested the chilling of the body. Read here